1 82 TAXES AND CONTRIBUTIONS. 



the towns to be relieved. The taxes are to be levied by 

 moieties on May 31 and Nov. 8, but it is provided that in 

 case peace be effected in the course of the year, and the king 

 do not engage in war, the second moiety shall be void. The 

 Universities and Eton and Winchester Colleges are exempted 

 from these subsidies. 



In 1503, the king claims the aid on making his eldest son 

 a knight (Arthur was now dead three years) to which allusion 

 has been made above. 



The old duties were granted to Henry VIII for the term of 

 his natural life by i Hen. VIII, cap. 20: and by 3 Hen. VIII, 

 cap. 22, two fifteenths and two tenths, with the customary 

 deduction of 12,000, are granted, the plea being the aggressions 

 of France in Italy and the Low Countries. The four towns, 

 Lincoln, Yarmouth, Shoreham, and Cambridge, are relieved or 

 exonerated from the tax, which is also not to apply to Oxford 

 and Cambridge Universities, Winchester and Eton Colleges. 

 In the next year a fifteenth and tenth are granted, though the 

 Act is not entered on the Rolls of Parliament. The plea is 

 the ambition of France and the threats it has made against the 

 Pope. A poll tax is also imposed on every duke of 6 i$s. 4^., 

 on every marquis, earl, marchioness, and countess, 4, on every 

 baron, 40^., and on every knight, not being lord of Parlia- 

 ment, 30.5-. ; on every landholder whose estate exceeds 40 

 annual value, 20^., on others whose estate is between 20 and 

 40, ioj., between 10 and 5, $s., between 5 and 40^., 

 zs., and on all under, i s. Then comes a property-tax of 53^. ^d. 

 on 800, on estates between 800 and 400, 405-., between 

 200 and 400, z6s. 8<, between 100 and 200, 13^. 4^., 

 between 40 and 100, 6s. 8d., 20 and 40, 3^. 4^., 10 

 and 20, i^. 8</., 10 and 40 s., is. Labourers receiving wages 

 between 40^. and 20 s. yearly are to pay 6d.> others earning 

 less, ^d. No one is to be exempt but married women and 

 beggars. 



The next year the Commons grant 160,000 in aid of the 

 expedition to Tournay. This is estimated on the lines of the 



